Halloween

BOO, aww what a great noise to hear ringing throughout the house at this time of year. The leaves are starting to fall, and ghosts are starting to appear hanging from trees, spiders and witches begin to pop up on household in your neighborhoods, yes its Halloween.
Believe it or not Halloween is on my family’s favorite holidays. Everyone in my entire family gets dressed up and decorates the house, turning it into a scary, scary witches den. The witch of course being my mom. She loves to get her hat, big nose, and black long hair on every Halloween and wait for the little candy craving youngsters to stroll up to the door with their bags held open and yell, “trick or treat”, that saying is music to her ears. During Halloween every year my house is turned into an almost little haunted house. The excited, sometimes leery youngsters enter though the garage and make their way through a winding path with smoke rolling across they feet and scary, screechy, howling music plays in the background. When they get to the entrance of the house is where I come in. I sit in a chair as still as I can dressed like a scarecrow. The brave trick or treaters are not phased by the fake looking scarecrow (me) sitting by the door while the other leery ones stand and stand and stare. My technique for the most extreme terror is to let a few kids walk by and be as still as possible, making no noise and waiting for the best opportunity to present its self. When the time is right and the right kids are passing by I reach out and grab a youngster yelling “BOO!” and then letting them go and assuming my position once again. Once the kids make it past me and enter into the house they are greeted with more music and bowls of gumballs that look like eye balls other candy filled bowls all throughout the house. Before they get to leave the spooky trail through the house they must reach into the “bowl of brains”, which is actually jello in a bowl with paper over it and a slit in the top to let a hand of the brave trick or treaters reach inside. Inside the fish out a piece of candy and get to put it into their bag. At the end of the trail my mom stands with more bowls and candy and her witch outfit wishing everyone a happy Halloween.

Gangs in Lincoln

When I was deciding where to attend college this past year I wasn’t sure where I would be headed. I was born and raised in town of just over one thousand people. A town where you know everyone and everyone knows you. I have relatives that lived in Lincoln and Omaha but I wasn’t sure if the city would be for me. When it came time to make a decision I choose Nebraska Wesleyan, but I was still a little leery about moving to the city. So far my time in Lincoln has been a lot of fun, however it’s when I can pick up the newspaper and read articles like the one I read today that makes me ask myself, “Do I really like it here”?
The article I chose to write about is one dealing with the issue of gangs in Lincoln. The article goes into detail with one family in particular, one daughter that had once taken ballet, jazz, and played soccer for ten years, that chose to live a life of crime. The twelve year old girl was recruited by gang members when she attended Lux Middle School in Lincoln, and then North Star High School. It is amazing to me to think that kids as young as twelve years old, in a city in Nebraska are being recruited into gangs. I know there is crime in every city and that for the most part most cities are safe to live in but it really hits home to see what is happening in the city where I live, it is a scary thought. My home town, only two hours from here, has never had a problem like this and the kids, like me, coming out of it are almost blind to the fact that this is a real danger. I think that all Lincoln schools and surrounding areas should educate their young kids about the reality that is taking place in Lincoln. The threat of gangs is present and real and the only way to stop is to have the cities eyes opened to the problem.